Super Bowl XLVI Day 2: The Calm Before the Storm

**This is Day 2 for male readers. I may write another version for the women. Facts won't change but there's a whole other story with a feminine twist that I may or may not decide to write about. Trust me, it's a total buzz kill to my amazing weekend, so I may not write about it in an effort to forget it.

To pick up where I left off:

My father, husband, and I woke up around 9 AM on Saturday.  It was a dreary day but just like everything else leading up to this trip, it was all going to work out.  Part of the package that we booked through Big Blue Travel was that we had tickets to the NFL Experience on Saturday which was indoors.  So we took our time to get ready and away we went.

Our first stop was a Steak 'n Shake.  Now I had never been to one before but a day after having Terry's Turf Club in Cincinnati, no burger could have compared.  Again, though, that's where Daddy wanted to stop, so that's where we stopped.

After lunch, we made it to downtown Indy and for the second day in a row, found unbelievable parking for relatively reasonable pricing.

In case you weren't hooked on NFL Network leading up the Super Bowl, the NFL Experience was where the NFL had converted the Indianapolis Convention Center into, well, an experience.  They set up areas where you could kick field goals, throw passes, and run through obstacle courses.  There were long lines but we didn't have any where else to be.  So we stood in lines and just enjoyed ourselves.

First, we waited close to an hour and a half for the Kick an Extra Point.  Daddy and Hubby wanted to kick from 30 yards and I wanted to try 20 yards.  I've been known to be a little clumsy.  And when I say clumsy, I really mean that I can fall while standing... and totally sober.  So really, my only goal was to NOT fall.  I went first.  Started walking to the ball and... I swear... Don't Stop Believin' came on.  I ran to the ball and kicked.  I got good height, the ball was centered, but it fell little short. Seriously, though, just a LITTLE short. I was so proud of myself! I celebrated as though I had made it. I'm positive those people standing on line behind us were scratching their heads--either that or they thought the "special" girl had done well.

Then my dad and Hubby went. And IN THEIR FACES! Neither of them at their "manly" 30 yards got even close.  They both basically hit line drives down the field.  It was a beautiful moment.  I was sure to bring it up SEVERAL times for the rest of the weekend.

Then we went and threw some passes. And of course, before we left, we hit the HUGE NFL Shop.  Grabbed a bunch of goodies--more than I needed but less than I wanted.  And that was really it for the NFL Experience.

We left and headed to dinner at Buca di Beppo.  Yes, another "local" cuisine.  The reason I keep pointing out these restaurant choices by my father is because when we first arrived in Indy, we had an interesting conversation.  The first place we saw was a Buffalo Wild Wings.  Yes, I love me some BWW and I pointed it out.  Daddy was so quick to declare in a VERY judgy tone, "NO! Don't you want to try something more local? You can get Buffalo Wild Wings anywhere." But really, his tone is totally lost in writing.  To think, our next three meals were Hard Rock Cafe, Steak 'n Shake, and Buca di Beppo just cracks me up.  But (yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse here) I would have eaten ANYWHERE he wanted.  So three chains it was!

We headed back to Bloomington where we were staying and also, where Hubby's cousin lives.  I had contacted her as soon as I found out that's where we were staying.  We had texted all day and then at the end of the night, she came by our hotel.  We had a drink with her and got to catch up.  It was a very nice ending to a great day.

But a day that would never even come close to comparing to the next one. This was definitely the calm before the storm.

Super Bowl XLVI Day 1: Don't Stop Believin' & Still Can't Believe It

I still can't believe it.  I'm writing 8 days after my father, my husband and I went to the Super Bowl--correction, the Giants Super Bowl--and I still can't believe we were there.  You already know how we got tickets.  This was how an adventure of a lifetime went down:

Day 1 (Friday): Hubby and I flew from Houston to Cincinnati.  On our ride to the airport, just as the sun was coming up, Don't Stop Believin' came on the radio.  What a great song to get pumped for the weekend that was upon us.  We ran... No, I ran through the airport with Hubby dragging behind.  We were in our Giants gear so people were asking if we were headed to the game.  While speaking with the security guard, I got tears in my eyes because I was so excited.

We landed in Cincinnati on time, picked up our bags and rental car and headed to lunch.  I figured chances of us being in this city again were slim so I thought we'd check it out a little.  I did what any chubby girl would do.  I checked out where Guy Fieri had been on DDD and that's where we headed.  So we had lunch at Terry's Turf Club and just as expected, the burgers were to die for.  Once our stomachs were full, we got back in the car and made our 2 1/2 hour drive to Bloomington, IN (this is where we were staying and meeting my father).

As we drove through winding roads with not much to see but corn fields, I said, "Well, Indiana is exactly what I imagined it to be."

 LITERALLY the ROAD to the Super Bowl.

And then, Don't Stop Believin' came on the radio again.  This was it.  It was going to be our theme song for the weekend.  The truth is I never stopped believing in the Giants.  This was proven so when Hubby and I got into a fight while out watching the Saturday games of the Divisional playoffs.  Hubby said that the Saints were going to go all the way.  I yelled at him that there was no way that was going to happen.  This was the Giants year. I was sure of it.  Besides, I didn't think the Saints were going to get by the 49ers anyway.

Thank you, Giants for helping me to prove him wrong.

We arrived at our hotel and Daddy was just a few minutes behind us.  We checked in and brought our bags up.  Once Daddy got to our room, we basically turned around and headed to Indianapolis. 

As we drove into Indy, we could see Lucas Oil Stadium AKA the House that Peyton Built.  We drove into downtown and could immediately see a city that had a Super Bowl makeover.  There were signs, posters, and decorations everywhere that proudly showed the Super Bowl XLVI logo.  After sitting in some traffic, we parked.

As we walked out of the parking garage, we immediately saw Adam Schefter.  Of course in this instant, we all choked and couldn't remember his name.  But it was still pretty cool.

We walked around the Super Bowl Village, several blocks of downtown Indianapolis that were shut down for Super Bowl festivities.  We headed to the zip line, which of course Daddy was dying to get on. Unfortunately, it was sold out for the day.  So, we kept walking around and checking out the sights.

 Zip Line @ Super Bowl Village

As we walked past a building, a security guard stopped us because someone was coming and there had to be a path made for him/her to get through.  Hubby was ahead of us--he usually leaves me in the dust--so only Daddy and I got stopped.  I was joking with the security guard and trying to get him to tell us who it was.  He said that he couldn't tell us but after a little bit of buttering up, he did tell me which way to point my camera.  Then, I saw him. Amani Toomer.  For those of you that aren't too familiar with the Giants, this is kind of a big deal.  He was on the team for quite some time and was even part of the Super Bowl XLII team.  The funny part about this was that a lot of the people hanging out at Super Bowl Village weren't there for the Super Bowl.  They were people just looking for something to do and it was a BEAUTIFUL night.  So the crowd that I was in didn't even know who it was that walked by.  Of course, I freaked out, as I usually do in these situations and didn't get a good shot.  It doesn't matter. He still walked right by me. And it was awesome.

We made our way to dinner.  We ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe.  You know, we tried authentic local cuisine. Hey, if that's what Daddy wanted, that's what we were eating.  We were experiencing the most incredible weekend of our life because of him. He could have pointed in a trash can and said, "Dinner?" and I would have said, "Sounds good".

We walked around and had a couple more celebrity sightings.  One was Nick Lachey.  I was literally just inches away from him. He was pretty cute in person. I have to say.  And the other was Keith David--you know, one of those actors that you TOTALLY know his face but had no idea what his name is.  As the downtown got more and more crowded, it got harder to move, let alone walk.  So we felt we had experienced enough of Super Bowl Village and decided to head back to our hotel.  We had a full day planned ahead of us so we figured it was a good time to call it a night.

Crowded Streets of Super Bowl Village